The Vacation That Almost Wasn’t (Continued 4)

Evenings at Leah’s I relaxed reading Corrie ten Boom series of books or helping with the jigsaw puzzle. Sunday morning I shaved and we were off to Leah’s church. Her church recently went to contemporary music for worship. I’m used to more traditional services. The church was holding its worship services in an open air mode. The songs were only words printed on a sheet of paper without any notes. There were four musicians: a woman with a microphone who sang, two guitarists, and a guy on a “beat box.” I’m not sure that’s what it’s called, but he sat on a wooden cube, using his hands like a bongo drum to create different sounds to blend with the other musicians. I was glad the music wasn’t loud. The message was more traditional than the music.

Monday we headed to Calaveras Big Trees State Park. At least it was open to hiking. A yellow crop-dusting biplane swooped low over the road, then sprayed the crops beside the road. We arrived and smoke hung in the air beneath the sequoia trees. Sunlight filtered through the fumes giving the forest an ethereal feel. Only a strong smell of smoke changed that image. Varied colors of the rugged sequoia’s barks were beautiful. Green needled branches were high above our heads. Several fallen trees were cut to allow hikers to stay on the path. Some were nearly ten feet thick. Gnarled roots made some wonderful backdrops for photos.. Many of the trees were named: the Father or Mother of the Forest, and some were named after famous leaders in America’s history.

The gray squirrels and chipmunks were scrawny looking. It would take two or three to make a meal when compared to the ones we have in Pennsylvania.

Initially Sutter’s Mill was a disappointment. We stepped out into a hot and dry parking area, but it was only part of the site. Across the road, there were other buildings on display with items of the era, a Chinese bunkhouse, and a small area was set like an underground mine. Although Sutter discovered gold, he died in poverty. In the museum, there were figurines of the Native Americans, miners, and items of the historical times.

Tuesday morning at Leah’s the skies were blue with less smoke to be seen. The temperature was 58 degrees Fahrenheit. It was a good day to relax again. P.S. We finally finished that jigsaw puzzle. The majority of the picture was done in various shades of brown and it had 1,500 pieces. (To be continued)

 

The Vacation That Almost Wasn’t (Continued 2)

The plane from Dallas/Fort Worth was large with a full capacity. We were seated separately. My friend took the seat closest to the exit. We knew that the connecting flight had a short window to board and acted appropriately. She moved quickly and I followed. My friend has a disability and sometimes need me to help with luggage. We made the connecting flight with about three minutes to spare before boarding. It was another blessing.

My friend’s aunt was to pick us up. We waited for fifteen minutes before we spotted her. The aunt said she’d made several passes before we connected. We came out just after her last pass. Aunt Leah’s home was a ranch style home with tangerine, lemon, and orange trees in the back yard. What was unexpected was that she had two sequoias in the back yard and one in the front. She’d gotten them as seedlings. Now they were twenty years old.

It was Leah’s birthday. She was happy to get a card, Trump flag, a Trump shirt, and a Women for Trump cap. After BLT sandwiches, we went to bed. The next day was a slow day, shopping for food and working on a large jigsaw puzzle. The drive to Lake Tahoe was scheduled for the next day and we began to pack snacks and drinks for the trip.

The drive to Tahoe became a challenge. Many of the parks were closed due to the fire danger. One waterfall that my friend wanted to see was still open. We made our way to it and parked. The water was only a small stream. As we tried to leave the front wheels settled into the dust, backing out onto the roadway the car bottomed out. There was no cell phone reception to call AAA, but there was a fire station 1/4 mile away. We hiked there and were able to use their phone. The tow truck driver had us out quickly and we were on our way again.

Her aunt doesn’t like to drive. I have an uneasiness of heights as does my friend. The road we were on was very winding on the sides of steep ravines. We even crossed a hogback ridge. It was too late to turn around, so we pressed on and were able to stop at several places along the lake. (To be continued)

 

The Vacation That Almost Wasn’t

My friend asked me to go to California and visit her aunt and sightsee. Although I don’t like to sit for long periods of time I thought it would be my only chance to visit that state and agreed. She always packs ahead of time, often buying new items, packing them long before time to leave. I’m the opposite. Much of my things I still use until just before I leave.

I had an argument with myself about taking my checkbook or not. I finally decided to leave it at home. To save money on airport parking, we stayed at a hotel near the Pittsburgh airport with shuttle service. In the middle of the night, I suddenly realized my driver’s license was in my checkbook. Panic time! I needed my I.D. to board the plane. At 1:00 A.M. we’re making an emergency run home and back to the hotel. If we’d have slept longer or if I hadn’t remembered that my license was at home still in my checkbook, I wouldn’t have been able to fly with my friend. She’s a good friend and has ALMOST forgiven me. All it cost was time, some harassment, and a tank of gasoline. Looking back, God was telling me, “Take the checkbook” but I was trying to rationalize whether or not to take the checkbook. I was actually being told not to forget it.

The first leg of the journey was complete, making it to the airport. Going through the TSA was a hassle, but necessary. The first agent I met kept saying, “Take off this and take off that.” I teasingly said, “Next they’ll want to know my underwear size. She said that “the comment was uncalled for” and scowled. After retrieving my clothes and items, then redressing, I approached her, apologized and gave her a Gospel tract. She seemed mollified.

On board there was a family from the Middle East sitting in front of us. I felt a prodding to share a tract with them. I wondered how I would do it. I knew custom wouldn’t allow me to approach his wife or two young daughters. I also knew sharing with the two sons was also inappropriate, so I thought, “God if you want me to share Your Word with them, show me how.”

Right before we landed the younger son, maybe 10 years old, gently touched his father’s hair, face, and rested his head on the father. I leaned forward saying, “Your son really loves you.” When the father nodded, I gave him the tract telling him about another Son’s love for his Father.” He accepted the tract. I found out that they were from Syria.

Across the aisle, a young man was restless as though he was concerned about flying. The engines were too loud to follow up on the tract I gave him, but we found out that he was from Yemen. (To be continued)

 I was on vacation and am back. Monday will be the next post. Thanks.

Counting Sheep or Counting on the Shepherd

One item I picked up from the Sunday morning’s message that wasn’t the main topic of our pastor’s sermon was when we’re having a time of sleeplessness, it may be God vying for our attention. He may want some quality time with us. The Lord may want to pull us away from the worries that are causing our restlessness and our inability to sleep. There may be a problem or concern that’s too large for us to carry by ourselves and God may want us to give it to Him. So many times during the day we have distractions and not enough time to share our concerns with God. It may be something small and we think God doesn’t want bothered with it, but if you take time to read His word, often it is the small and the weak things and people that actually accomplishes much more than powerful ones.

Today the media and people are saying “follow your heart,” but the heart is too often wicked and deceitful. It will lead us astray. If we seek God’s will and take time to pray for God to guide our hearts, God will never lead us into sin, despair, or wickedness.

God’s will is perfect, even though we may not agree with His timing or the way He directs us to the destination. We may have detours because we haven’t learned a lesson that is necessary before we can face the next part of our life. A farmer can’t harvest a crop if he doesn’t prepare the soil and plant the seed. He can water and weed, but he won’t harvest anything and will have wasted his time.

Jeremiah prophesied for Judea that they needed to turn from their idols and sins or they would be destroyed by Babylon, yet Judea’s kings and people ignored Jeremiah, even after the city was surrounded by the Babylonian army. They refused to believe that destruction was at hand and continued to ignore the threat camped outside the gates.

When Jeremiah told them the only way they could avoid being utterly destroyed was to surrender. The Judeans said that he was committing treason because they refused to believe him and return to God, they were slaughtered and the land razed.

Isaiah 5:20, 21, 23 shares, “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!...Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!” Where is America today?

Unmerited Grace

Wednesday evening one of our church members shared a message that was on his heart for over a year. It took him that long to figure out exactly what and how he wanted to share it. This young man came to our church initially brought by a relative. He wasn’t keen about church stuff, but despite his reluctance, God caught hold of his heart and because of the conviction of the Lord, he accepted Jesus as Savior and became saved. I’ve watched this young man grow in faith and enjoyed seeing God smooth his rough edges to now I believe he may one day enter the ministry.

There was a lot of hard work on his part. He didn’t graduate high school, but since then found teachers who were willing to tutor him. With their help he earned his GED. From that point on, he blossomed. His manner of speech and knowledge grew exponentially. It was a blessing to see the changes.

His message was from the book of Luke, chapter 18 where the Pharisee prayed in the temple, bragging about how wonderful he was. The Pharisee seemed to tell God that God was blessed to have him as a follower. After all, he was extremely religious following the tenets of fasting and tithing. He was “thankful” that he was not like other sinful men, almost as to say he was not being constrained by sins of others. He felt that he was better than the lowly publican. While the publican recognized himself as a sinner and asked God for mercy, expecting nothing, but praying that God might show him grace.

Now comes the coincidence, I was driving home after the service and a preacher on the radio was explaining the same passage, adding more insight. The minister said that fasting for the Jew was required once per year. Often it was accompanied by the whitening his face and praying. The preacher felt the Pharisee’s fasting would have been on market days, where others knew that he was fasting. Matthew shares about fasting publicly and the reward received is public recognition only.

Fasting is sometimes necessary for the Christian, causing an intense time of prayer and seeking God’s will, but wearing a placard saying “I’m fasting” is wrong.

Tithing is another requirement from God, returning one tenth of finances He has given to us. Even that, the Pharisees made it a badge of righteousness, carrying it out the extreme, where they would shortchange their parents by counting the seeds that were to feed and support the parents in their old age. The Pharisee’s pride of strictly following the tenets replaced the reason behind his worship.